Session 8
next steps for Jacob and his family.
1 God said to Jacob,
“Get up! Go to Bethel and settle there.
Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
2 So Jacob said to his family and all who were with him,
“Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you.
Purify yourselves and change your clothes.
3 We must get up and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to the God who answered me in my day of distress.
He has been with me everywhere I have gone.”
4 Then they gave Jacob all their foreign gods and their earrings, and Jacob hid them under the oak near Shechem.
Believers are to examine their lives for idols.
Pack Item 1 (Map: The Travels of Jacob),
highlight the city of Shechem where Jacob had settled in Canaan.
Pack Item 5 (Poster: Key Moments in Jacob’s Life)
to review Jacob’s life.
Display the black sheet of paper,
sharing that Genesis 34 is a dark chapter of rape and revenge.
Point out that there is no mention of God in Genesis 34.
Display the white sheet of paper to indicate a change in Genesis 35.
The first words in Genesis 35 are “God said,” revealing a move from darkness into light.
Earrings
These earrings may have been part of the plunder from Levi and Simeon’s attack on Shechem (Gen. 34:29).
They probably had some religious significance.
Also, members of Jacob’s family may have worn earrings decorated with images of pagan gods.
Another possibility is that the idols, rather than the people, wore the earrings.
We have ample evidence that idols were adorned with earrings in the ancient Near East.
Briefly review Jacob’s previous experience at Bethel.
identify verbs in verses 1-4
that express urgency and record them on the board.
Explain that Jacob’s urgency came from God’s command.
Shechem
Shechem is sometimes associated with Sychar,
the place where Jesus visited with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:5-6).